Dean Frey’s Music for Several Instruments blog reviews Isabel Bayrakdarian, Jory Vinikour, Constantine Orbelian, and the Kaunas City Symphony’s The Other Cleopatra: “This remarkable album is more than a classical music recording; it’s also a work of original scholarship and an effective cultural advocacy project. I hasten to add that it works especially well musically.…
Remy Franck’s Pizzicato magazine reviews Emanuele Segre, Orchestra I Pomeriggi Musicali, and Carlo Boccadoro’s Italian Guitar Concertos recording: “The award-winning [Emanuele Segre] presents a mixture of well-known and less well-known repertoire. He begins with his own transcriptions of the beautiful Vivaldi aria Ah, ch’infelice sempre, which immediately shows the main feature of Segre’s playing: the…
The Other Cleopatra: Queen of Armenia Yes, there was another Cleopatra! She was married to Tigranes the Great, King of Armenia, and together they created an Armenia that reached from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean. The resplendent and regal voice of soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian is perfectly suited to the role of Cleopatra. Bayrakdarian shines…
Rafael’s Music Notes reviews Isabel Bayrakdarian, Constantine Orbelian, the Kaunas City Symphony, and Jory Vinikour’s new recording, The Other Cleopatra: “In this intriguing DELOS release the Armenian-Canadian soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian explores the story of Cleopatra of Egypt, Queen Consort of King Tigranes II of Armenia in the operatic music of Hasse, Vivaldi and Gluck, all…
As part of my research at the University of California, Santa Barbara, I have undertaken extensive scholarly work on Baroque composers who have written operas about the Armenian King Tigranes II (140–55 BCE). There are at least twenty-four operas about him; most are lost. I have now gathered three operas—in entirety and in excerpts—by Hasse,…
“There are two distinguished musical figures involved in a new Delos release of Improvisations on the Fourteen Stations of the Cross: Ned Rorem (born 1923), whose themes are the basis of the performance, and McNeil Robinson (1943-2015), the distinguished organist whose March 21, 2006 improvisations are recorded and memorialized on the disc. Readings of text introduce each…
Opera News names Continent’s End: Song Cycles by Christopher Anderson-Bazzoli a Critic’s Choice! “Anderson-Bazzoli employs a largely tonal approach, with varied musical characterizations… the work is very well crafted. It’s gracious for the voice and engaging for the piano. Mezzo-Soprano Buffy Baggott has a warm sound and elegant phrasing. She manages the varied challenges of…
Mark S. Zimmer reviews Piet Koornhof and Albie van Schalkwyk’s Violin Plus One album for MusicWeb International: “These pieces are given a lovely performance by South African violinist Piet Koornhof, with noted accompanist Albie van Schalkwyk. … Koornhof gives us a moody Tchaikovsky, but not a self-indulgent one. Poème, op.25 by Chausson is a fascinating…
The Whole Note‘s February 2020 issue features a review for Dawn Wohn and Esther Park’s Perspectives album: “Perspectives is a fascinating CD by violinist Dawn Wohn and pianist Esther Park that explores the differing cultures and perspectives of women composers, reaching back to the 19th century and into the 21st. … Wohn plays with warmth, a crystal-clear tone and a…
The Strad Magazine’s January 2020 issue features a review hailing Ilya Gringolts and Dmitry Kouzov’s Eisler, Ravel, Widmann Duos recording as “Gripping and beautifully played duos that demand committed listening”: “bold and hugely committed performances of three very striking duos spanning almost 90 years. … Gringolts and Kouzov are as one in shaping the gestures…
Rafael de Acha reviews Emanuele Segre, Carlo Boccadoro, and Orchestra I Pomeriggi Musicali’s Italian Guitar Concertos recording on Rafael Music Notes: “The Italian guitarist Emanuele Segre’s recording of Italian concerti for guitar has instantly become a favorite in my collection of CD’s thanks to this artist’s gifts for bringing to new life the familiar – Antonio Vivaldi’s Concerto…
Gramophone‘s December 2019 Sounds of America section featured a new review of Cappella SF and Ragnar Bohlin’s Mass Transmission: Choral Works by Mason Bates recording: “Bates’s versatility is further revealed on this disc of superb choral works featuring the inspired Cappella SF. In Sirens, six movements of beguiling and varied settings for a cappella chorus,…
Cappella SF and Ragnar Bohlin’s Mass Transmission: Choral Works by Mason Bates is an Opera News Critic’s Choice selection for December! “Mason Bates isn’t the only contemporary composer who fluidly integrates electronic timbres in symphonic, operatic and chamber-music mediums. But few others have been as successful at proliferating that sound through the repertoire of such major…
MusicWeb International‘s critics have released their 2019 Recordings of the Year and critic Ralph Moore has selected our Verdi: Messa da Requiem CD/Blu-Ray/DVD/Download! “We are hardly short of recordings of Verdi’s Requiem but I recommend this new version by one of the greatest living Russian conductors, Yuri Temirkanov, as it stars two great female singers…
The Whole Note‘s Terry Robbins reviews Ilya Gringolts and Dmitry Kouzov’s Eisler, Ravel, Widmann Duos album in their December 2019 issue: “The central work on the disc is the two-volume 24 Duos for Violin and Cello from 2008 by the German composer Jörg Widmann. … the double stopping and special effects present technical difficulties that bring brilliant…
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